Give up Health Insurance??? - Page 2

[EFmom]

I would do whatever I needed to do to keep the insurance. I'm undergoing treatment for breast cancer and it costs a fortune. I have good insurance. For many years I paid premiums for something that I seldom used, but in no way could I afford these bills.

I've met too many women at my oncologist's office who have gotten this in their 20s and 30s to think that if you are young and have been healthy, you'll be OK w/o insurance.

[lisalou]

I'm surprised no one mentioned this. I'm assuming you were/are being offered COBRA from your last job? If you didn't accept or decline it you sort have coverage for 90 days or 3 months. Maybe longer. If something happened to you or a family member all you'd have to do is tell your former employer you wanted coverage. You''d have to backpay the premiums but it might be cheaper than full on paying the bill and if you don't have anything happen you save the money. That would just leave you with a 2 month gap for health insurance.

[Amys1st]

Keep the insurance. Keep it keep it keep it. There are too many what ifs to worry about wasting money. I put this under what my Grandfather used to say-
Never make a gamble that you cannot afford to loose.

Never mind the money your coughing up each and every month. You might have to change DRs, rx plans, etc. Also what if you have an accident?

BTW- insurance is just that- its to INSURE that if something happens, you are covered. If accidents were not accidents- what would they be called planned?

[~Quse~]

:

[ameliabedelia]

We had a similar situation arise this summer. DH left his old teaching job and so lost insurance at the end of June, and insurance at the new job didn't start until the first of Oct. We could have gotten Cobra, but it would have been $1300/month, YIKES. Instead we looked at temporary insurance. We got temp insurance through Assurant Health (formerly Fortis) for I think $350 (2 adults and 2 children). Our deductible was $1500, coverage limits of 1 million, and no preventive care, no well-child visits, no prescriptions or anything like that were covered. 100% covereage after the deductible was met for hospital care, out-patient care, surgery, etc. We are generally very healthy and rarely go to the dr. anyway. So, we really only wanted coverage for accidents, broken bones, a true illness, things like that. During that time, only one of us had to go the dr (me, I cut my hand while cutting chicken and needed stitches). So, we paid for the bill (about $225, plus $50 for antibiotics) out of pocket, since we didn't reach our deductible. In retrospect, I am very, very, very, very glad we didn't get COBRA and pay that money. We really needed that money elsewhere and just didn't have $1300/month to pay for it. If a similar situation ever arises in the future, we will probably do the same.

[marasmum]

Originally Posted by mountainsun

I just heard this morning that 45 MILLION Americans are without health insurance. nice :

That is a true number. WHY AREN'T PEOPLE RIOTING IN THE STREETS?

By the way... Has anyone spent sometime in the hospital lately? Doesn't take long for HUGE expenses to add up. And guess what, if you are unlucky enough to get cancer or are really injured in a car accident and for whatever reason it financially ruins you, (as of earlier this month) you can't file for bankruptcy due to health bill reasons. 'Tis true. The bankruptcy law just got MUCH stricter.

Of course, this doesn't affect you if you are a part of the "ownership" class, the one that happens to run the government and this country. They call all the shots and are laughing all the way to the bank.

[Meli65]

Our COBRA was costing over $1,000 a month (!) so we got a family plan through Golden Rule. There is a helpful website called www.ehealthinsurance.com that I used to lead us there. It was much cheaper and was one of those high deductible things. I agree with the pp's who insist that you keep your insurance, but I don't think you need to spend that much on it. I also doubt that you'll find lower-cost insurance that will cover your meds, but you can quickly figure out which way you'll wind up paying more out of pocket. Good luck!

[shanagirl]

Insurance 'works' by irony to begin with -- it takes a lot of healthy people paying premiums to be able to pay the bills for the sick people who actually incur costs and the costs are rising all the time. It ain't a pretty game from any angle. I would not be penny-wise and pound foolish when it comes to insurance because if you do get sick, you have NO control over the costs. With health insurance buy the best coverage you can afford, which you do have control over. Better coverage always gives you more options. Until we get to a better system...

[amyamanda]

Ugh. Well, you have my sympathy. BTDT. We were paying $800/month for private coverage when DH was self-employed and we had only 2 kids. We dropped it and went uninsured for 3 years. He took an office job and was offered coverage - at $400/month, which is far cheaper, but at this time completely unaffordable to us. So we took it for a few months, long enough to get a couple big medical things taken care of, and then dropped it. We now live in a state with fabuloso state health care coverage for kids, and so finally all four of my kids are covered for just $30/month, but DH and I are not. We figure we have saved probably about $40,000 so far. If something big comes up, we'll take our chances, work out a payment plan, figure it out. We are in good health and primarily self-treat, so we were hardly utilizing our "benefits" anyway.

Good luck, whatever you decide.

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by dharmamama

...people who don't have health insurance get demonstrably worse care.

I have not ever heard this. Wondered if you could point me toward sources? I'm really curious - I haven't been insured for most of the past 3-1/2 years, but I haven't had difficulty getting good care when I needed it. I haven't needed anything major though. Our family doc is great, and there is a wonderful free clinic in town. Maybe we just got lucky?

[marasmum]

Originally Posted by amyamanda

I have not ever heard this. Wondered if you could point me toward sources? I'm really curious - I haven't been insured for most of the past 3-1/2 years, but I haven't had difficulty getting good care when I needed it. I haven't needed anything major though. Our family doc is great, and there is a wonderful free clinic in town. Maybe we just got lucky?

My "take" on her statement was that uninsured people usually lack PREVENTATIVE care - holding-off until a health issue is critical and needs medical attention. This emergency care can often times be inferior care.